In Connecticut, a "progressive Democrat" wins more votes than Harris
While Kamala Harris won Connecticut, Sen. Chris Murphy won more votes than Harris by running as a "progressive Democrat."
Takeaways
- Vice President Kamala Harris beat Donald Trump in Connecticut by a comfortable 14.5 point margin.
- Sen. Chris Murphy won re-election and received roughly 12,000 more votes than Harris by running a campaign that critiqued Democratic neoliberalism.
Connecticut's vote shift between the 2020 and 2024 presidential elections underscores the potential dangers of waging a centrist campaign that sidelines the party's base. While Democrats held on to the state of Connecticut by a comfortable 14.5 point margin, the party saw a substantial drop in Democratic presidential votes when comparing to 2020. Kamala Harris spent much of her protracted campaign distancing herself from the left wing of the Democratic party and appealing to moderates of both parties. That approach led to less votes in all of Connecticut's counties. Conversely, Donald Trump doubled down on appealing to his base and saw increases in his vote totals in every single county.
Overall, Harris received nearly 90,000 less votes compared to Joe Biden's 2020 performance but the losses were not evenly distributed across the state. Harris saw larger proportions of lost votes in the state's bluest counties. The state's top 3 most democratic leaning counties, Fairfield, Hartford and New Haven, all saw at least a 5% drop in total Democratic votes while.
A Popular "Progressive Democrat"
When looking at down ballot races, Connecticut is one of several states in the 2024 cycle where the Democratic Senate candidate won more total votes than Vice President Harris. Not only did he win his race by a larger margin than Harris (18.9 points) he also nabbed roughly 9,000 more votes than the vice president; totaling slightly just under 1 million votes compared to her 990k total.
What stands out the most about Sen. Chris Murphy's re-election campaign is that he ran as a self-proclaimed "progressive Democrat." While Kamala Harris and other Democratic leaders spent the entirety of the 2024 election distancing themselves from their party's left wing, Murphy ran toward it and won more support in response. To be clear: Murphy's campaign did not forcefully advocate for progressive policies but his win proves that being associated with the Democratic left-wing can be an asset, not just a liability.
"I’m all in on bulk negotiation of drug prices, but that seems pretty small ball to a lot of Americans who just think we should cap the price of prescription drugs without some super-elaborate scheme attached to it. Our solutions can be simpler." -Sen. Chris Murphy
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